STERLING, Va. - Some parents are demanding more thorough background checks on educators after it was revealed a Loudoun County (web | news) special education teacher was implicated in the 2002 death of a Texas student at a previous job.

Dawn Marie Hamilton was hired at Park View High School in 2007 after clearing a background check. Now, local authorities and parents are asking how that background check missed such a significant red flag.

The issue came to light during congressional testimony about student deaths nationwide when the mother of 14-year-old Cedrick Napoleon said Hamilton sat on her son after he acted out in the classroom in 2002.

Napoleon suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome after a lifetime of abuse. He had been placed in the care of a foster family and was attending middle school in Killeen, Texas, in a class with a special education teacher in 2002.

Acting out in class one day, Cedric, 129 pounds, was pinned to the floor by his 230-pound teacher, who lay on him to quiet him down, federal investigators say. When she got off or soon after, he was dead.

"If that teacher was just doing her job, then something is very wrong with the system," Toni Price, his foster mother, told a congressional committee.

The boy's death was ruled a homicide but a grand jury declined to indict Hamilton, meaning she was never arrested or charged in the case. So when Loudoun County ran her fingerprints through a national database as it does with all prospective teachers, there was no record.

"If there is an arrest record for the applicant, it will show up on the file we get from the FBI (web) ," said Paul Webb, director of employee relations for Loudoun County Schools.

But the Loudoun County application specifically asks the prospective teacher if they've even been investigated on charges of child abuse or neglect. Hamilton checked 'no'.

While she never faced criminal charges in connection with the boy's death, Hamilton's name had been placed on a Texas registry of those who had abused children. Her name was removed when her her teaching certificate expired.

As a federal investigation report states, that information would not have been available on a traditional background check.

"Because her case went directly to a grand jury in Texas she was not arrested, she was not indicted. It was not in the crime information system so it turned up blank," said Wayde Byard, a Loudoun County schools spokesperson.

Lynn Busby, whose 14-year-old son is a Park View student, said, "I'm really shocked they never discovered anything about this woman... I am concerned the investigations on the teacher's background is incomplete."

"I don't think they should suspend her," said Mildred Robinson, a parent. "She wasn't charged with anything. She didn't do anything wrong."

But many parents say there must be a way to dig deeper into the past of someone who wants to teach.

"I think we need to fix ... checking into backgrounds," said Donna Stuck, a parent. "They're our children. It's important."

Hamilton is considered a teacher in good standing with the county. There have never been any reports of incidents involving her at the school.

She remains on paid administrative leave while the county investigates the circumstances of her hiring.

Loudoun schools says it's a personnel matter that will be dealt with in the next few days.

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